VICTORIAN authorities have new guidelines for
chemical safety after a coroner's finding into a 2007 fire at a
Yarraville factory

Coroner Heather Spooner yesterday found that
nitrocellulose, commonly used as an ingredient in lacquer, was
responsible for the ''extraordinary'' fire at the Hall Street factory
that housed Japanese Screens and Interiors.

She found that the firefighters
who fought the blaze were compromised by a lack of signs about the
hazardous material on site. Under the new guidelines, suppliers of
nitrocellulose products will be subject to checks to determine whether
they are complying with occupational health and safety obligations and a
register of known nitrocellulose product purchasers will be
established.

Two
northbound lanes of Interstate 95 have been cleared after a rollover
crash and chemical spill near Congress Avenue caused delays for hours
this afternoon.

The two blocked outside lanes, just south of
Congress, were open as of 7 p.m., the Florida Highway Patrol web site
indicated. Crews spent nearly four hours cleaning up the spill after a
crash involving three vehicles shortly after 3 p.m.

There were no
injuries reported, a Boca Raton Fire Rescue news release
stated.

A pool cleaning truck, a medium-sized box truck and
one car were involved, the release stated. The box truck, containing a
small amount of resins and acetones in 5-gallon drums, rolled over and
spilled a small amount of resin onto the roadway, the release
stated.

Los Angeles Firefighters, dispatched to an odor
investigation, arrived quickly at a three story garden-style apartment
building to learn of an irritating odor in or near a 3rd floor unit
undergoing renovation.

With three persons from the
premises initially complaining of respiratory irritation, first arriving
crews immediately extracted and isolated the ill, while summoning an
LAFD Hazardous Materials response.

Occupants of the 64-unit
building were calmly led upwind to fresh air in a well-coordinated
fashion that kept them safe yet separate from those who exhibited minor
illness following possible fume exposure.

With a
Command Post and perimeter established and key building systems secured,
LAFD HazMat experts donned protective gear as their colleagues commenced
a detailed medical assessment of all five residents now complaining of
respiratory irritation.

A comprehensive sweep of the
42,000 square-foot building with sophisticated sensing devices yielded
no immediate or escalating hazard.

Following exposure to fresh air
and the brief use of medical oxygen, the symptoms experienced by all
five residents soon subsided, and each declined offered medical
treatment and transportation.

No other illness or injuries
were reported.

Though the odor dissipated and its source was
undetermined, LAFD responders surmise it may have been related to
aerosol insecticide or oven cleaner being used in the apartment
undergoing renovation.

The
Fallon/Churchill Volunteer Fire Department along with the Federal Fire
Department at Naval Air Station Fallon responded to n hydrochloric acid
leak at the city's water plant Monday afternoon.

Others called
out included Fallon Police Department, paramedics from Banner Churchill
Community Hospital and a HAZMAT response team.

Fallon Mayor
Ken Tedford Jr. said the acid leaked from a holding tank. Employees were
evacuated, and no injuries were reported. Tedford said the spill is
under investigation. He could not elaborate on the cause of the
leak.

According to Jefferson City Fire Department reports,
a valve broke on a truck hauling 6,000 gallons of liquid oxygen around
1:40 p.m. as it was traveling in the 500 block of Missouri Boulevard.
This was near the rear of St. Mary=92s Health Center and across the
street from the hospital=92s accounting building.

As a
precaution, 50 people working in the accounting building were
evacuated.

The Cole County HAZMAT Team was called in to stand
by and officials with DNR were also called in.

Eventually
the valve was repaired and the workers were allowed to return to their
office building.

As soon as local authorities realized what happened
hazmat crews quickly descended upon the Quakertown Municipal
Pool.

"Some of our employees were performing daily
maintenance on the pool. Two regular chemicals that we use on a daily
basis came together and had a reaction which turned into chlorine gas,"
said Quakertown Managing Director Scott McElree.

As a result,
early responders immediately evacuated the pool area, Quakertown
Memorial Park, several nearby homes, and a few buildings including the
local public library.

More than 120 people were sickened Monday by the
leak of ammonia at the Millard Refrigerated Services plant in Theodore.
Hospital officials in Mobile said 29 people were admitted, including
four in intensive care. Scores of people were forced to remain in their
homes and at a school after the leak was reported. The leak also forced
workers to evacuate one of BP=92s main staging areas for the Gulf of
Mexico oil spill cleanup. BP said dozens of cleanup workers from its
Theodore site were among those taken to hospitals.

ANCHORAGE,
Alaska (KTVA-CBS 11 News) Anchorage Police say they evacuated the Fred
Meyer store off of Northern Lights Boulevard and New Seward, after a
chemically activated bomb went off during a late night back to school
shopping session on Saturday. APD says no one was hurt, however the
people who were out late Saturday night back to school shopping, still
got quite a scare.

Police say just before 11
pm, what looked like a plastic water container exploded from gas
pressure in isle four in the Fred Meyer store. APD says the store was
evacuated for a period of time, but they are not sure exactly how long
that was.

Anchorage Fire Department officials say after
everyone cleared out of harms way, they tested some samples from the
bottle with their hazardous materials equipment. It tested 97% muriatic
acid, a hydrochloric acid commonly used for industrial
cleaning.

Fire officials say they were able to neutralize the
substance with baking soda, provided by Fred Meyer. APD says this goes
beyond a prank and is a very serious offense.

"Lots of
times, young people especially, because that's who I am seeing on the
internet constructing these kind of devices, young people think that
either their a young person, or this is just a funny thing so it's not a
serious offense. This caused a great deal of disruption, but it's also
placing other peoples lives and well being in jeopardy, and we will
prosecute criminally when we determine who is responsible for this act,"
said

NILES =97 A
gasoline leak on Saturday morning on a section of Third Street referred
to as "Tank Town" may have caused nearly 20,000 gallons of gas to spew
onto the ground, authorities say.

The spill at a tank at the Niles
North Terminal owned by Buckeye Partners, L.P., 2303 S. Third St.,
happened at 8:37 a.m. and was capped at 10:08 a.m.

Niles
Township Fire Chief Gary Brovold said the spill may have occurred when a
flange connecting pipes near the tank came apart, causing a spill six
feet in diameter. The unleaded premium gas was being pumped to a tanker
truck at a loading rack farther away.

AUGLAIZE CO., Ohio -- A two
vehicle accident has shutdown all northbound lanes and all but one
southbound lane of Interstate 75 near U.S. 33.

An SUV slid on wet pavement trying to enter I-75
south from U.S. 33 around 3:15 p.m., the Ohio State Highway Patrol said.
A semi truck on the highway tried to avoid the SUV but went into the
median, struck a barrier wire, and knocked down an overheard
sign.

Auglaize County HazMat was
called to the scene to clean up an estimated 60-100 gallons of diesel
fuel spilled onto the way by the semi truck.

The semi truck was loaded with lime, but the
substance does not pose a safety risk, OSP said.

ROCKVILLE =97 A UConn physics professor whose Storrs
neighborhood was evacuated when his 13-year-old son detonated a homemade
bomb in January routinely helped the boy make bombs and had some of the
ingredients shipped to his work address, police said.

That and
other details of the state's case against Juha Javanainen are laid out
in a warrant for his arrest. Javanainen, 56, was charged June 16 with
first-degree reckless endangerment and risk of injury to a
minor.

Javanainen appeared briefly Friday in Superior Court
in Rockville, where his case was continued to Sept. 17. He continues to
work as a professor at the University of Connecticut, his lawyer, Mark
Hauslaib, said outside the courtroom.

The massive oil spill in the
Gulf of Mexico has had a trickledown effect in Utah.

A federal
agency that has been asked to look into the April 20 spill from the BP
oil rig has temporarily halted some of its smaller investigations,
including one in the Top of Utah at the Silver Eagle Refinery.

Earlier this
summer, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee asked the U.S.
Chemical Safety Board to examine the Deepwater Horizon rig
explosion.

The board, which investigates chemical accidents,
had probed another accident at a BP plant in Texas.

But in taking
on the Gulf spill investigation, the agency said it had to suspend and
perhaps terminate other investigations because it was overburdened with
cases.

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